Economic Progress

Business Owner Sick of Handouts

July 14, 2016

Despite the public’s general distaste for it, corporate welfare remains popular among politicians and the favored recipients who can dole out and receive money with little accountability.

However, as Dustin Hurst writes at IdahoFreedom.org, in Idaho one business owner made a clear case for how he is impacted.

George Gersema, founder and owner of Employers Resource, was incensed after the Idaho Department of Labor announced it would give one of his competitors, Paylocity, $1.2 million for the next year and a half to train up to 500 workers. Paylocity is also set to receive $6.5 million in additional tax exemptions over the next several years.

As Hurst notes, “The state agency will pay out the training cash from the controversial Workforce Training Fund. That money, at least a portion of it, comes right from Gersema’s own pocket. The Department of Labor fills the training fund with a portion of the unemployment-insurance taxes paid by businesses each year.”

Georgia Smith, the deputy director for the state’s Department of Labor, defended the fund, maintaining that Employers Resource could also apply for funds.

Hurst quotes Gersema’s principled response: “Everyone can stick their nose in the public trough … The point is that there shouldn’t be a public trough.”